Automatic shut-off attachment

ABSTRACT

An automatic shut-off attachment for honing and other industrial type machines to relieve the operator of the care and attention necessary to stop a honing or other operation at the proper time as for example, when a dial or other indicator or control reaches a particular desired position. The subject shut-off operates automatically to terminate the work cycle as for example by stopping the rotation and/or reciprocation movements of a machine.

ite tates Patent Sunnen [4 1 Feb.25,1975

[22] Filed:

1 AUTOMATIC SHUT-OFF ATTACHMENT [76] Inventor: Joseph Sunnen, 400 S. Warson Rd., Ladue, Mo. 63124 Jan. 8, 1973 [2]] Appl. No.: 321,869

[52] US. Cl. 192/125 B, 74/2, 74/512,

74/520 [51] Int. Cl Fl6d 71/00, G05g 1/14, G05g l/04 [58] Field of Search 192/125 A, 125 B; 74/2, 74/512, 520; ZOO/61.41

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 501,902 7/1893 Spindler 74/512 X 1,252,582 1/1918 Kane et a1... 74/512 1,381,352 6/1921 Sherman 192/125 B 2,159,398 5/1939 Montgomery et a1 192/125 B 2,372,852 4/1945 Randall 74/520 X 2,654,260 10/1953 Lewis 74/512 X 2,738,034 3/1956 Levine 74/520 X 3,320,378 5/1967 Czubak ZOO/61.41

Primary Examiner-Allan D. Herrmann Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Charles B. Haverstock [57] ABSTRACT An automatic shut-off attachment for honing and other industrial type machines to relieve the operator of the care and attention necessary to stop a honing or other operation at the proper time as for example, when a dial or other indicator or control reaches a particular desired position. The subject shut-off operates automatically to terminate the work cycle as for example by stopping the rotation and/or reciprocation movements of a machine.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 3,868,007

sum 1 BF 4 FIGJ PATENTED 3,868,007

sum 2 or 4 y wy/ W1 FlG,2

PATENIEDFEB25|975 3888.007

sum 3 or FIG 3 1 AUTOMATIC SHUT-OFF ATTACHMENT In the operation of many types of machines, the operator has various duties to perform which require his time and attention and this is especially true when the accuracy and precision of the work result is high.,For example, the operator may be charged with loading and unloading the machine, he may have continuing duties as the machine work proceeds, he may have controls and switches that he must operate, and he may have other duties to perform as well including arranging the finished products, keeping an inventory of parts to be machine, changing the machine setup as well as other duties. In addition, a machine operator often has dials and gages to watch so that he will known how an operation is proceeding, when a particular operation is completed or a particular size or other characteristic is achieved and whether the machine is operating properly. This is especially true of certain industrial machines such as honing machines which hone parts to extremely precise accuracies, often measured in thousandths or millionths of an inch. In such cases, it is not always possible for an operator to be able to judge a result and accurately terminate an operation and to maintain consistency in the finished parts. In fact, the accuracy of the finished products usually falls of as the operator is burdened with addition responsibilities.

The present shut-off provides an extremely accurate means for automatically terminating a machine operation and without burdening the operator. Furthermore, the subject shut-off can be accurately preset to provide consistency in the work products being operated on and relieves the machine operator of the tedious and time consuming task of watching dials and indicators and of knowing and remembering exactly when to shutoff an operation. The present shut-off means therefore overcome many of the objections and shortcomings pointed out above which have been primary sources of error and product variation and inconsistency. The present means also lends themselves to use and installation on existing machines with minimum expense and machine change or modification and without altering the machines basic operating characteristics. The operator also has the option to choose to use the subject tion;

shut-off means or not depending on a particular application and the other circumstances.

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide accurate meansto shut-off or terminate a machine operation on the occurrence of a particular condition.

Another object is to relieve a machine operator of the chore of knowing when to end an operation and to see that this is done.

Another object is to increase the accuracy, uniformity and consistency of parts or surfaces formed during machine operations.

Another object is to provide accurate means for ter minating a honing operation.

Another object is to provide an over-center release mechanism for use on industrial machines and the like.

Another object is to provide a relatively simple, inexpensive and easy to install and operate attachment which increases the versatility and operating accuracy of machines, and particularly machines that operate on workpieces to bring them to desired sizes and/or shapes.

Another object is to provide an automatic machine shut-off which includes optional manual release means FIG. 3 is another view of the same shut-off after it has been released so as to terminate a. machine operation;

FIG. 4 is a right side view of the mechanism as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a portion of a honing machine equipped with a shut-off mechanism constructed according to the present invention; and,

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view showing the operative connections between the feed-up control means on the honing machine and the subject automatic shut-off means.

Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference numbers, number It) refers generally to a release or shut-off mechanism constructed according to the present invention. The mechanism 10 is shown installed on and for use with a honing machine such as the honing machine 12 partially shown in FIG. 5. It will become apparent, however, that the subject release or shut-off can also be used with many other and different kinds of machines as well including any machine which operates on parts in some manner and until some desired condition such as a desired size, dimension, or shape is reached. Depending on the construction of the machine, the subject mechanism may require some slight modifications or adaptations,.but the basic principles of its structure and operation will still apply. Application of the device to a honing machine, however,

is a good one to illustrate the construction and opera- 2,070,381 Pinhole Grinder Feb. 9, 1937 2,l 17,525 Reamer May 17. I938 2,349,526 Boring Machine May 23, I944 2,350,969 Honing Arbor June 6, I944 2,377,588 Honing Machine June 5, I945 The basic principles of the present shut-off or release mechanism can best be understood by first considering the operation of the machine on which it is installed. In the operation of a honing machine, the operator has certain duties to perform including duties such as (l) positioning the workpieces to be honed in honing position; (2) adjusting the machine to indicate the stock removal rate and the point at which the final desired size or diameter is reached; (3) energizing the machine so that the work is performed such as so that the honing mandrel will rotate and otherwise move while engaged with the work; (4) terminating the machine operation when the indicator or other means indicate that the desired size (diameter) has been reached, and (5) replacing the workpiece with another workpiece and repeating the operations. Along with the above chores, the operator may also periodically be required to check the accuracy of the finished workpieces to verify the honing accuracy, perform various setup operations, maintain an inventory of parts to be honed, and arrange or otherwise handle the parts that have been honed. All of these and other chores and duties take time and effect the efficiency of the operation and accuracy of the results. In particular, if the operator must visually or otherwise determine and control the size and accuracy of each part and terminate the honing operation each time at the right moment, the skill and training required of the operator and the amount of operator attention must all increase substantially with a corresponding decrease in efficiency and product uniformity. Improved accuracy and reduced operator attention is achieved by the present shut-off means which operate to automatically terminate a honing operation at precisely predetermined conditions, and without requiring any positive actions by the operator. It may also be done without requiring any indication of a condition by means on the machine.

Referring to FIG. 2, the shut-off is shown in its operative or engaged condition which is the latched condition during which a honing operation takes place. In this case, the mandrel adapter 14 which is part of the honing machine 12 is rotating and in turn rotates a honing mandrel (not shown) which is positioned in a workpiece to be honed in a well known manner. The mandrel, has work engaging elements on it which during honing move outwardly into engagement with the work surface being honed. Also, during honing means are provided to maintain the work engaging members on the mandrel engaged under pressure with the work surface so that as the honing progresses, the work surface will be enlarged and/or finished to some desired final size and/or smoothness. Mandrels capable of performing these operations, and machines and components which make this possible may all be of well known construction such as those disclosed in the aforesaid Sunnen United States patents.

The known honing machines have included foot operated pedals or similar means which, when operated by the operator, initiate control the honing operation. In the existing machines the foot pedal (not shown) is connected to the operating mechanisms in the honing machine through a rod such as the rod 16 in FIG. 1. The rod 16 is operatively connected to means on the honing machine which radially advance the work engaging elements on the honing mandrel and maintain the mandrel operatively engaged under pressure with the work so long as the honing operation progresses. In the past, the operator has maintained a honing operation until indicator means such as indicator means 18 indicate through known mechanisms that some desired final condition is reached whereupon the operator releases the pressure on the foot pedal so that the work engaging elements on the mandrel can move out of engagement with the work and the honing cycle stops. This procedure requires concentrated and continuous attention by the operator and even then results in some inaccuracy and some variation in the workpieces depending on the skill and experience of the operator.

The present shut-off means are designed and constructed to relieve the operator of the above and other duties by providing a latch release or shut-off mechanism that releases certain latched mechanisms including those normally under control of the foot pedal to terminate a honing operation when some predetermined condition occurs such as a condition determined by means associated with the indicator means I8. Such means will be described later. The subject release means also include an optional manual release feature which can be operated at any time to prematurely end a honing operation for any reason such as because of a faulty condition, a broken part, a broken piece of equipment, a jam or bind, a safety reason and for any other reason.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the upper end of the pedal rod 16 is shown pivotally connected to the lower end of a latching or cocking lever 20 which has a bend or curve at an intermediate location as shown in side view. The upper end of the lever 20 extends between spaced members 22 and 24 and carries a sidewardly projecting stud 26 which engages and moves against the member 22 when the lever 20 is pulled downwardly by operation of the foot pedal to cock or load the said member 22. The lever 20 also moves on and is supported by pivot means which will be described later. The position of the member 22 when the foot pedal is fully depressed is shown in FIG. 1, and the latched or cocked condition of the member 22 is shown in FIG. 2 and is the condition that results when the foot pedal is released after being depressed. The positions will be described more in detail.

The foot pedal rod 16 also extends through an opening 28 formed in a sidewardly extending member 30 which is pivotally attached to a rocker arm 32. The rocker arm 32 is mounted on a shaft 34 which extends sidewardly into the honing machine 12 near the bottom thereof. When the machine is not operating, means in the machine will move the arm in its clockwise position. However, when the foot pedal is depressed it pulls down on the rod 16 and on the lever 20 as aforesaid, and in so doing partially compresses a take-up spring 36 which is mounted on the rod 16 between the member 30 and a collar 38 that is fixed on the rod 16. Further movement of the foot pedal operates to rotate the arm 32 and the shaft 34 counterclockwise. The rotation imparted to the shaft 34 sets up conditions in the honing machine which are necessary to produce a honing operation. Such means are well known and are disclosed in many patents including those United States patents identified above, and it is not deemed necessary to describe these and other well known machine components and their operations in detail.

At the same time that the rocker arm 32 is rotating counterclockwise, the upper end of the rod 16 is pulling down on the lower end of the cocking lever 20 to establish other conditions necessary to cock the machine so that the machine can continue to hone even after the operator has released the foot pedal. The means which establish the cocked condition are important to the present device, and it is necessary to understand them in order to understand how the subject automatic shut-off or release operates when the desired final honed condition has been reached.

When the cocking lever 20 is pulled down by operation of the foot pedal, the sidewardly extending stud 26 is pulled against the edge of the member 22, which member is pivotally mounted to the machine by fixed pivot means 42. This action causes the member 22 to move in a clockwise direction as shown, and in so doing moves a latch member 44 which is pivotally attached to a cross-portion 45 of the member 22 at pivot 46 to the right as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The latch 44 has a hardened edge portion 48 which is formed into a sharp edge at 50. The portion 48 including the edge 50 on the member 44 cooperate with a similar hardened sharp edge portion 52 on another latch member 54 when the assembly is cocked. This condition is illustrated in FIG. 2.

The latch member 44 is biased into a clockwise position about the pivot 46 by means of a spring 56 which is connected between stud members 58 and 60 on the members 44 and 22, respectively. The amount of movement of the latch member 44 is controlled by means of a pin 62 on the cross-portion 45 which extends into a larger diameter opening or hole 63 formed in the latch member 44.

When the latch 44 is biased by the spring 56 into the position shown in FIG. 1. the edge 50 of the member 48 is spaced from, but in a position where it can and will engage the edge member 52, as the member 22 moves counterclockwise when pressure is removed from the foot pedal and from the latching member 20. The engagement between the two hardened portions 48 and52 operates to latch or cock the machine, i.e., a honing or like machine, in its operative or honing condition, and in the cocked condition the honing operation will proceed until some desired condition is reached such as a desired part size at which time the edge of the latch portion 52 will move past the edge 50 of the latch portion 48. When this occurs it will cause the honing operation to terminate. The means that move the member 54 during a honing operation will be explained later in connection with FIG. 6.

When the foot pedal is depressed to initiate a honing operation the member 22 is rotated clockwise as aforesaid and this moves the spring biased latch member 44 including the edge portion 48 to the right past the edge of the latch portion 52. Some clearance is provided in the movement to assure latching and this position of the member 44 is shown in FIG. 1. Thereafter, the portions 48 and 52 will become engaged when the pedal pressure is released. At the same time that this is taking place other laatch means formed by two pivotally connected latch members 66 and 68 are moving from their unlatched to their latched condition which is also illustrated in FIG. 1 as well as in FIG. 2. The latched condition of the members 66 and 68 is an over-center condition in which the two members 66 and-68 are nearly in alignment with each other.

The members 66 and 68 are pivotally connected to each other at pivot 70, and the upper end of the mem ber 66 is pivotally connected to the machine at 42 which is also the pivot for the member 22. The lower end. of the link member 68 is pivotally connected to the crank arm 32 at pivot 72 which is the same place where the member 30 is connected to the crank arm 32. The lower end of the member 66 carries an adjustable eccentric stop 74 which is formed by a threaded member 76 and a lock nut 78. The eccentric portion of the threaded member 76 extends from the member 66 on the opposite side thereof from the nut 78 and engages a cutout of notch 80 formed on the member 68 when the members are latched. This over-center latched condition establishes a fixed distance between the pivot means 42 and 72 and this distance remains fixed to hold the crank arm 32 in its counterclockwise condition which is the condition necessary for the honing operation to take place. This condition is maintained even after pressure is removed from the foot pedal.

The latch member 66 also has a sidewardly extending stud 82 attached to it at the location shown. This stud makes engagement with the adjacent edge of the member 22 to unlatch the members 66 and 68 when the engagement between the portions 48 and 52 is released as will be explained. When this happens the members 66 and 68 will no longer be able to maintain the fixed distance between the pivots 42 and 72 and the members will therefore collapse and release the crank arm 32 so that it can move clockwise to terminate the honing operation.

There arealso manual means to release the latched condition of the members 66 and 68 and these include release knob 86 which is connected to the curved upper end of a lever arm 88 which extends downwardly through the mechanisms described and is pivotally connected to the machine at pivot 90. A fixed support member 92 which is shown extending rearwardly from adjacent to the pivot 90 has attached adjacent to its fixed rear end 94 a spring clip 96 to which one end of a spring 98 is attached. The opposite end of the spring 98 is connected to the manual release lever arm 88 at hole 100 to maintain the arm 88 in a clockwise position on the pivot 90 which is the position thereof in which the lower end of the arm 88 is against the adjacent housing wall 102. This is the inoperative position of the manual latch release means. The lower end of the lever arm 88 has attached to it an L-shaped spring member 104 which extends rearwardly therefrom to adjacent the forward side edge of the latch members 66 and 68 near where they are pivotally connected together. To operate the manual release, the operator simply pulls forwardly on the knob 86 to thereby pivot the lever arm 88 counterclockwise about the pivot 90, and in so doing the lower end of the lever arm 88 including the spring member 104 moves rearwardly against the latch members to release them from. their over-center latched condition. This enables the rocker arm 32 to move clockwise to stop the operation as aforesaid.

The automatic latch release means operate in a different but in some ways similar manner to release the over-center latched condition of the members 66 and 68. and they do so automatically without requiring any action by the operator. The automatic release means are under control of means on the honing machine which monitor and sense when a particular condition of the workpiece has been reached or a particular amount of honing has taken place, and at that time operate to release the latched condition which until then has maintained the machine in an operating condition.

' In the automatic case, the release is under control of other latch means which are formed by the members 48 and 52 which engage each other during and until the desired condition being sensed is reached. This in turn is under control of a feed-up control 106 (FIGS. 2 and 6) located on the front of the honing machine. Feed-up controls such as feed-up control 1106 are ,well known and are shown in several of the above listed Sunnen United States patents.

The feed-up control 106 is adjusted by the operator prior to each operator of the machine and moves during the operation a predetermined. amount to control the amount of honing and/or stock removal that will take place. When the feed-up control 106 is adjusted it is moved toward the machine and this in turn moves a plate member 108 which is biased into engagement with the control 106 by several springs such as the spring 110. Thereafter, during the honing operation which follows the control 106 and the plate 108 move forwardly (or to the left as shown in FIG. 6), both of said members being attached or located on a shaft 111.

A pivoted operator member 112 is mounted for movement on another shaft or pivot 114 located some distance below the plate 108. The operator member 112 has an upwardly extending arm portion 116 which makes contact with the rear surface of the plate 108 and follows the plate during its movements. The operator 112 also has a downwardly extending arm portion 118 which is engaged by an operation plunger 120 which controls the dial gage 18. It can therefore be seen that movements of the plate 108 are translated into gage readings through the movements of the operator member 112.

The latch member 54 which has been described above is mounted for rotatable movement with and is located adjacent to the free end of shaft portion 122 of a member 124 which in turn rotates with the shaft 1 14. The member 124 is located relatively close to the operator member 112, and carries a pin 126 which extends sidewardly therefrom and engages an edge 128 formed on the operator member 112. During a honing operation the operator member 112 moves counterclockwise as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, and in so doing the member 124, the shaft 122, and the latch member 54 also move counterclockwise being urged in doing so by one or more leaf springs 130 which are attached to the member 124 and extend therefrom to make engagement with a fixed stud 132. Thus during honing and while the feed-up control 106 and the associated plate 108 are moving forwardly with the movements of shaft 111 the operator member 112 is also moving counterclockwise to change the reading on the dial gage 18, and at the same time the pin 126 is riding on and moving with the surface 128 of the operator 112 thereby enabling the spring 130 to rotate the latch member 54 and its hardened edge portion 52 relative to the edge portion 48 of the other latch member 44. This condition continues until the portion 52 moves past the edge 50 of the portion 48 thereby releasing the latch member 44 and the associated members including the member 22 which is now able to move counterclockwise about the pivot connection 42 and under control of the pressure exerted on it by another leaf spring 133 against which it was moved when the foot pedal was depressed. This action moves the lower portion of the member 22 against the pin 82 on the latch member 66 and in a direction of collapse the over-center latched condition of the members 66 and 68 to stop the honing operation in the manner already described. In order to prevent this from taking place in a non-smooth and noisy condition, the crank arm 32 is preferably connected to an hydraulic dash pot means 136 (FIGS. 1 and 3) which operate to dampen the sudden movements and prevent damage and machine noise.

The force required to unlatch the members 66 and 68 can be varied by adjusting the position of the eccentric member 76 which cooperates with the groove 80. This adjustment is usually made to hold the members 66 and 68 close to an aligned condition when latched so that relatively little force is required to unlatch them.

The subject automatic shut-off therefore operates like a mechanical foot with an eye on the honing dial, the difference being that the machine monitors its own progress and shuts itself off at some very accurately determinable points as when the dial gage 18 reaches its zero, or some other preset condition. The subject shutoff can therefore be used to produce consistency and uniformity of the output, and it does so automatically and with an accuracy and repeatability that it not obtainable by a human operator.

The present device also has a latch lockout feature which prevents the subject shut-off from operating automatically when in use but does allow operation in the usual way by holding down on the foot pedal. The lock out includes a knob 140 which is threaded in a hole 142 in the front wall 102 of the subject device. The member 140 has an outwardly extending annular flange 144 which cooperates in one of its extreme positions with a stop member 146. The inner threaded end of the member 140 bears against the lower end portion of the manual release lever 88 and limits its forward travel. When the member 140 is backed out so that the annular flange 144 is against the head of the stop 146 the lever 88 is able to move the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. However, when the member 140 is turned in so that the flange 144 is adjacent to the wall 102, the lower end of the lever 88 will have been moved reawardly, or to the right, and the spring operator 104 attached thereto adjacent the lower end will be against the assembly formed by the members 66 and 68 and will move the assembly sufficiently to prevent it from ever being able to be in its latched condition.

Thus there has been shown and described a novel automatic shut-off device which has been shown used in connection with a honing machine but can be used with many other types of machines as well, and which fulfills all of the objects and advantages sought therefor. It will be apparent to those skilled in the machinery art however, that may changes, modifications, variations, and many other uses and applications for the present device are possible. All such changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do not depart from the scope and intentions of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention which is limited only by the claims which follow.

what is claimed:

1. Improvements to a machine for operating on workpieces, pedal means actuatable by the machine operator to activate the machine and set the machine in operation, and means to monitor the operation of the ma chine including monitoring the changes being affected to the workpiece, said monitoring means including means responsive to a predetermined condition of the workpiece to terminate a machine operation, the improvements comprising latching means under control of the pedal means, said latching means including means movable to a latched condition when the pedal means are actuated to maintain the operating condition of the machine independently of the pedal means, and other means operable to delatch the latching means when the predetermined condition is sensed by the monitor means, said last named means including a first member operatively connected to the monitoring means and a second member engageable with the first member when the latching means are in their latched condition, said first member moving relative to the second member during a machine operation under control of the monitoring means, said first and second members becoming disengaged from each other when the monitoring means sense the predetermined condition of the workpiece.

center latched condition when the pedal means are actuated to maintain the machine in an operating condition and a delatched condition wherein the link members are able to move relative to each other.

5. The improvements to the machine of claim 4 in cluding means to adjust the over-center condition of the link members in their latched condition to vary the force required to move them from their latched to their unlatched condition.

* l l l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. I 3,868,007 DATED 1 February 25, 1975 INVENTOR(S) Joseph Sunnen it is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 25, "of" (second occurrence) should be off Column 3, line 42, after "initiate" insert Column 5, line 41, "laatch" should be latch Column 6, line 61, "operator" should be operation Column 7, line 12, "operation" should be operating Column 7, line 50, "of" (first occurrence) should be to--.

Column 8, line 1, "points" should be "-1-. i t -.--t-,

Column 8, line 5, "it" should be is Column 8, line 20, after "move" insert to Signed and sealed this 13th day of May 1975.

(SEAL) Attest:

C. MARSHALL DANNP Commissioner of atents gstging picer and Trademarks 

1. Improvements to a machine for operating on workpieces, pedal means actuatable by the machine operator to activate the machine and set the machine in operation, and means to monitor the operation of the machine including monitoring the changes being affected to the workpiece, said monitoring means including means responsive to a predetermined condition of the workpiece to terminate a machine operation, the improvements comprising latching means under control of the pedal means, said latching means including means movable to a latched condition when the pedal means are actuated to maintain the operating condition of the machine indePendently of the pedal means, and other means operable to delatch the latching means when the predetermined condition is sensed by the monitor means, said last named means including a first member operatively connected to the monitoring means and a second member engageable with the first member when the latching means are in their latched condition, said first member moving relative to the second member during a machine operation under control of the monitoring means, said first and second members becoming disengaged from each other when the monitoring means sense the predetermined condition of the workpiece.
 2. The improvements to the machine of claim 1 including manual release means operable at any time by an operator to manually delatch the latching means to terminate a machine operation.
 3. The improvements to the machine of claim 1 including means adjustable to prevent the latching means from maintaining themselves in their latched condition.
 4. The improvements of the machine of claim 1 wherein the latching means include a pair of pivotally connected link members movable between an over-center latched condition when the pedal means are actuated to maintain the machine in an operating condition and a delatched condition wherein the link members are able to move relative to each other.
 5. The improvements to the machine of claim 4 including means to adjust the over-center condition of the link members in their latched condition to vary the force required to move them from their latched to their unlatched condition. 